Gary is off this afternoon. Market close from Yahoo Finance.
The S&P 500 ended the day with minor losses following a volatile session. Equities began the day on a positive note, but comments from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid caused a quick change in sentiment. Speaking from the Senate floor, Senator Reid said that all signs suggest the country will go over the fiscal cliff. In addition, the senator said the House of Representatives is being run as a “dictatorship” by Speaker Boehner. The comments caused the major averages to fall to their respective lows. However, an afternoon report out of Washington indicated the House of Representatives will reconvene on Sunday, December 30 at 18:30 ET in hopes of approving a budget. In response, the major averages raced off their lows, ending the day little changed after seeing losses of more than 1.0%.
Financial stocks showed the most intraday sensitivity to the headlines, and the sector led the late-morning decline. However, the late-afternoon rally helped the sector recover the bulk of its losses. Among the majors, Bank of America (BAC 11.47, -0.07) shed 0.6% and JPMorgan Chase (JPM 43.63, -0.33) fell 0.8%.
| Symbol | Last | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Dow | 13,096.31 |  18.28 (0.14%) |
| Nasdaq | 2,985.91 | 4.25 (0.14%) |
| S&P 500 | 1,418.10 | 1.73 (0.12%) |
| 10-Yr Bond | 1.7150% | 0.0430 |
| NYSE Volume | 0 | |
| Nasdaq Volume… | 0 | |
